Guidance and legal insight for all aspects of housing and community development

Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Courtney E. Hunter on December 11, 2017 Posted in UncategorizedIn July 2016 HUD issued guidance on the use of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assessments for single family properties with FHA-insured mortgages. In January 2017, HUD followed with guidance on the use of PACE assessments for multifamily properties with certain types of FHA insurance, HUD-held debt and rental assistance. With the issuance of Mortgagee Letter 2017-18, FHA announced that… Continue Reading

By John Wheatley on October 30, 2017 Posted in Government-Assisted Housing,RAD,UncategorizedHUD issued a Notice of Extensions for PHAs in Presidentially Declared Disaster Areas. Pursuant to the Notice, HUD is authorized, on a case-by-case basis, to grant public housing authorities located in Presidentially-declared disaster areas extensions to certain Rental Demonstration Assistance (RAD) Application submission deadlines. These extensions may be granted to PHAs that have: 1) submitted a… Continue Reading

By Courtney E. Hunter on October 2, 2017 Posted in UncategorizedIf you missed our webinar on Options for PACE Financing or want to share the materials with your colleagues, you can access the presentation, white paper and recording at www.ballardspahr.com/PACEwebinar. You can also click here to learn more about how the District of Columbia is leading the nation in PACE financing. … Continue Reading

By John Wheatley on June 29, 2017 Posted in Budget,Legislative Initiatives,UncategorizedThe U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) released the Fiscal Year 2017 Housing Trust Fund (HTF) allocation amounts on June 20, 2017, setting forth the amounts awarded to each state or territory under the HTF. The total HTF allocation for Fiscal Year 2017 is $219,168,373.94, including $12,702,747.00 in unallocated funds from Fiscal Year 2016. The… Continue Reading

By Courtney E. Hunter on October 21, 2016 Posted in UncategorizedOn September 28, 2016, HUD published a notice in the Federal Register to solicit comments to revised form documents used in the Rental Assistance Demonstration (“RAD”). This notice follows a 60-day comment period on earlier draft changes to the form documents. However, noted in the notice, HUD only received six sets of public comments in… Continue Reading

By Courtney E. Hunter on June 7, 2016 Posted in FHA-Insured Financing,Government-Assisted Housing,Policy,UncategorizedOn May 17, 2016, HUD published a notice in the Federal Register to announce the issuance of the “Processing Guide for Previous Participation Reviews of Prospective Multifamily Housing and Healthcare Programs’ Participants” (the “Processing Guide”). A copy of the Processing Guide can be accessed here. HUD proposes that the Processing Guide be used to supplement the proposed rule published in August that announced… Continue Reading

By Courtney E. Hunter on March 27, 2016 Posted in Fair Housing,UncategorizedOn March 23, 2016, HUD published a notice in the Federal Register to announce the issuance of an Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Assessment Tool for Public Housing Authorities (the “PHA Assessment Tool”). Under the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (“AFFH”) final rule published on July 16, 2015, program participants are required to conduct an Assessment of… Continue Reading

By Courtney E. Hunter on March 1, 2016 Posted in Government-Assisted Housing,Policy,Public Housing,UncategorizedOn February 3, 2016, HUD published a notice in the Federal Register to announce that “it is considering rulemaking to ensure that individuals and families residing in HUD public housing in fact continue to need housing assistance from HUD after admission.” HUD cites the July 2015 report by its Office of the Inspector General, which… Continue Reading

By Courtney E. Hunter on October 5, 2015 Posted in Community Development,Fair Housing,Policy,UncategorizedThe Lincoln Institute of Land Policy recently released “Inclusionary Housing: Creating and Maintaining Equitable Communities,” a new report on the use of government policies that tie the creation of affordable housing to market-rate residential or commercial development. The use of inclusionary housing programs is relatively new (most were adopted in the last decade), but growing.… Continue Reading

By Nydia M. Pouyes on May 29, 2015 Posted in Government-Assisted Housing,Policy,UncategorizedAs a follow up to our March 24, 2015 and April 1, 2015 posts, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a notice updating the interim regulation at 24 CFR Part 135, which provides for compliance with Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (Section 3). The purpose… Continue Reading

By Mitzie V. Smith-Mack on April 30, 2015 Posted in Policy,UncategorizedThe Housing Plus Blog has previously reported on the “Poor Door” controversy on August 14, 2014 and September 3, 2014. The New York Times reported on April 20, 2015 that 88,000 people applied for the 55 units located in the much reported “Poor Door” building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The “Poor Door” controversy… Continue Reading

By Vicky Tsilas on February 24, 2015 Posted in UncategorizedThe IRS has released guidance in three areas of interest to entities that benefit from tax-exempt bond financings, particularly hospitals and educational institutions. This guidance creates new rules related to management contracts and participation by a nonprofit entity in an accountable care organization (ACO), final rules addressing requirements for charitable hospital organizations added by the… Continue Reading

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About the Housing Group

Ballard Spahr's housing practice
is nationally recognized for its innovative and practical approaches in the development and financing of housing and community development projects nationwide. Our experience includes the representation of more than 75 housing authorities, the closing of hundreds of bond transactions as bond and underwriter's counsel, and involvement in thousands of tax-credit transactions. We routinely represent borrowers and more than a dozen lenders under all of the multifamily programs of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and HUD.